


Please Shisui Sensei

by TBCat



Series: Shisui Sensei's Team 8 [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Chuunin Exams, Dai-hachi-han | Team 8 (Naruto)-centric, Gen, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-07-20 20:10:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16144604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TBCat/pseuds/TBCat
Summary: They're just babies, but Shisui is gonna let them commit Chuunin Exam Assisted suicide.He is wildly vacillating between pride and despair.





	1. Chapter 1

“Itachiii,” Shisui whines, “you’re just gonna leave me to hook up with that weird, blue-skin Kiri-nin again, and leave me all lonely, bored, and running Aunt Mikoto’s errands again!” His voice drops fearfully at the end of his complaints even though Shisui and Itachi are eating lunch on the other side of the village from the Uchiha Compound. Itachi stares at Shisui expressionlessly, so Shisui prepares to whine and tease Itachi some more. Then the corners of Itachi's mouth tick upwards. Shisui freezes. 

“You could enter your genin,” Itachi suggests. Shisui scowls at the ludicrous suggestion. “It will keep you and them busy,” Itachi offers, as if he is an innocent ninja instead of a demon given flesh. 

“They're still babies,” Shisui says in flat derision. 

“So you admit you baby them?” Itachi asks. He is smiling and his eyes are creased with positivity. Shisui glowers at having the teasing so quickly turned around on him.

* * *

 

Shisui hates when Itachi is right, which happens with annoying frequency. Luckily, when Itachi is wrong he is so disastrously wrong that it almost balances out. 

Shisui sets a test for Team 8. Worse case scenario, the team will fail the test with some minor injuries that they can recover from. Or maybe that is the best case scenario. So, instead of meeting his baby genin at the mission room, as per usual, Shisui places a sealed scroll on each of their sleeping bodies. 

Then he hides.

* * *

 

They find him as the light shifts into the blended colors of sunset. 

Hinata is first, and obviously surprised about it. Shisui isn’t surprised; his genjutsu aren’t good enough to fool the Byakugan, and the traps he set weren’t lethal enough to overpower her stamina. She quietly sits next to Shisui to meditate and wait. She is still half his size.

Shino and Kiba arrive together. Well, Kiba runs up to Shisui energetically, while Akamaru and Shino follow behind him. Akamaru is still sneezing, likely from the pepper traps Shisui used, and Kiba’s bluster is brittle. Shisui isn’t surprised; he purposefully made scent a weakness instead of a strength for this challenge. 

Shino is stiff instead of just quiet. Shisui hands Shino the glass jar sitting at his knee and hides a smile. Shisui knows better than to needlessly kill one of Shino’s kikaichu when he only needed to prevent the bug from communicating with the hive. 

Now that the easy part is done, Shisui can see whether his baby genin are truly ready. He clears his throat with standard Uchiha dramatics. His team doesn’t bother to react. Shisui frowns in disappointment. 

“The Chuunin Exams,” Shisui says, “are about to take place in Konoha.” That catches his team’s attention. Hinata opens her eyes attentively, and Shino and Kiba sit down next to her while they focus on Shisui. Shisui pauses to let the tension build appropriately. Kiba begins to scowl.

“I have decided to allow you to participate,” Shisui says in a deep voiced whisper, “if you can remove my headband in combat.” His throat hurts, but it's worth it for the way his team leans forward with wide eyes. Shisui relaxes in a sprawl across the ground, and waits for the cute little ninja to catch on. 

“You mean right now!” Kiba yells. Shisui laughs.

Kiba scrambles forward to all fours and pounces forwards. Shisui shunshins to stand behind the trio, and wiggles his fingers. Hinata at least sees the teasing, based on the way she activates her Byakugan and then grits her teeth with a blush. 

Akamaru spins around from his position on Shino’s knee and barks at Shisui. Shino flings a cloud of beetles to flank Shisui even as Kiba blindly jumps backwards and somersaults to face Shisui hands first. Hinata keeps her Byakugan active.

Shisui grabs Kiba and swings him around into the approaching cloud of attacking kikaichu. Then, Shisui braces a foot and pushes off. 

Hinata firmly calls, “Left!” Akamaru leaps to meet Shisui as he completes his shunshin, and Shino commands his kikaichu to burst away from Kiba and redirect towards Shisui. The cloud of bugs is slightly smaller, and Shisui predicts that Shino is up to his usual misdirection tricks. He catches Akamaru from midair by the scruff of the neck and dangles him teasingly at Kiba. 

Hinata strikes at Shisui with silent steps. Shisui drops Akamaru to twist his arm out of the way of Hinata’s uppercut, and carefully sidesteps Akamaru’s lunge towards his hamstring. How adorably vicious. Shisui shunshins forward, and he barely crashes into Hinata as she backbends out of the way of the lunge. 

“Shino,” Hinata calls breathlessly. Akamaru leaps off of Hinata’s exposed stomach before she handstands back to standing and twists to face Shisui. Shisui is already striking an open palm towards Shino’s shoulder. He dissolves into a loosely organized cloud of kikaichu, and Shisui activates his sharingan for a second in surprise. Shisui shunshins sideways towards Kiba before any of the beetles can land on him. 

Kiba is always fun. He drops to all fours to dodge Shisui’s leading strike at Hinata’s warning, and leaps towards Shisui’s throat to dodge the swift follow up kick. Shisui ducks towards the ground and spins to grab Akamaru as the puppy leaps for his back. Then Shisui tosses the pup into Kiba’s side as Kiba lands roughly on the ground across from Shisui. 

Shisui stands to his full height and purses his lips at the little genin. Shino is still hiding, but he wouldn’t have gone far; he hates to be left out. 

“Y'all haven’t even touched me,” Shisui whines. He is trying to keep the sharingan deactivated because this is only a test, not murder, but Shisui is a little disappointed. He thought he trained the babies better than this. Two fingers tap Shisui in the left hamstring with a brutal jab of chakra.

Shisui twists his body and shunshins away from the follow up strikes towards his hip and shoulder. Hinata is standing behind him with silent feet and a frustrated twist to her mouth. She drops the sign for a voice-throwing genjutsu, and Shisui sees the Hinata standing on the other side of him drip bugs to reveal Shino. Shisui wipes a pretend tear from his eye with pride. 

Kiba shifts slowly to try and flank Shisui’s rear. Shisui laughs and lets him; he can still shunshin with one leg. Then Hinata rushes forward as Akamaru takes her place in the enclosing circle. Shisui deflects a handful of strikes to prove a point; left, right, uppercut, kick, right, right. Then, he shifts a foot to shunshin out between Akamaru and Shino. 

“Now,” Hinata says breathlessly. Shino shrows a single kunai as a cloud of kikaichu rise from the ground in front of Shisui. Shisui screeches to a halt in surprise; Shino will be so sad if he kills kikaichu in a simple test. The kunai flies through the air behind Shisui, and Akamaru darts forward beneath its flight path before leaping up towards Shisui’s throat. Shisui hop-steps backwards easily. 

Akamaru’s tiny puppy teeth close tightly around worn metal and sweat-soaked blue cloth. Shisui laughs; Shino’s kunai cut Shisui’s headband loose, and that is what Akamaru was grabbing. 

“Fine, fine,” Shisui says with raised hands, “a deal is a deal!” His babies collapse to the grounds with shouts and groans and laughter. Shisui joins them with pride. He play-wrestles the headband from Kiba’s neck as payment for his stolen headband. Akamaru slobbers happily.

* * *

 

Itachi doesn’t even have the decency to look surprised. Shisui sticks his tongue out at Itachi while Aunt Mikoto’s back is turned. It's worth the way his own mother whacks the back of his head and the Sasuke-brat kicks Shisui’s leg in retaliation. 


	2. Chapter 2

Shisui crouches on the back of the couch in the jounin lounge and chews on his nails. Fake composure and stuffy control is for missions; Shisui lets his hair down inside the village. Itachi never lets his emotional hair down, and always lets his physical hair down, because Itachi is full of himself. 

“Please, Shisui, calm down,” Kurenai says from her position against the door. Technically, the jounin are under supervision to prevent outside interference. Shisui glares at her. She was supposed to be the sensei for Team 8, and then their positions would be reversed. Instead, Shisui just let three babies walk into a room with the shinobi bogeyman. 

“Ibiki is going to eat them alive,” Shisui whines. He tips over onto his side and melts down onto the couch. His head bumps against Kakashi’s sprawled legs. Shisui uses his momentum to flip upside and hang his arms off the couch with a dramatic, wordless wail. 

“Really?” Kakashi asks, “and I thought mine were going to be the worst team. If you’re that confident, maybe I should change my bets.” Kakashi taps the spine of his book against his mask contemplatively. 

“Captain,” Shisui shouts, “where’s my sympathy!” Shisui flips around to sit up and scowls at Kakashi. “Besides,” Shisui says, “I never said that they would do badly. They’re babies, not stupid.” Kakashi ignores Shisui to flick a page in his book. 

“Ooh,” he says, “this is my favorite scene!”

“Every scene is your favorite scene,” Shisui mutters before leaning against the opposite side of the couch. He doesn’t kick his feet into Kakashi’s lap, because the captain gets weird about touch. 

Kurenai interrupts, “Shisui, it’s just the first stage. Relax, and trust your team just like any mission.” Shisui looks sharply at her. It’s good advice even as Kurenai goes back to painting her nails. Kurenai would have made an amazing teacher.

* * *

 

When Kurenai lets the jounin-sensei out of observation Shisui very casually rushes to the examination at his fastest speed. His team is standing relaxed outside of the building, and Shisui flash steps directly behind them. Kiba is growling and posturing with more animation than he ever shows after failing. Shino’s full attention seems to be focused on listening to Kiba, but his bugs are marching in different patterns to a nearby flower patch. Hinata is fidgeting with the hem of her sweatshirt with none of the stiff formality she relies on when feeling emotional. Akamaru notices Shisui first and barks happily in greeting. Shisui reaches over Shino to scratch Akamaru’s ears and ruffle Kiba’s hair. 

Hinata reacts first by pivoting around with her elbows tucked into her body. Her fingers automatically stiffen into the deadly jab of the Gentle Fist style before quickly relaxing as Hinata pushes herself forward to wrap Shisui in a hug. Shino takes a moment to crouch and collect his beetles as Kiba tries to scowl and talk over Hinata and act like he isn’t leaning into Shisui’s hand. 

“Sensei, we did it, even though the instructor was so scary,” Hinata says. She hides her face in the silk of Shisui’s Uchiha crested shirt. “He was saying that we might never become ninja at all if we answered wrong, and the test scoring didn’t make any sense, but then Naruto,” Hinata’s voice is quiet, and somehow becomes breathy and squealing at the same time as she says Naruto’s name. Shisui very carefully doesn’t think about that because managing inter-clan politics between the Uchiha and Hyuuga is hard enough while teaching Hinata.

“Hah, that was no problem,” Kiba crows over Hinata. He is projecting loudly for anyone nearby to hear, but Kiba isn’t bothering to look to see whether Shisui is actually listening to him or Hinata. Kiba moves his hands animatedly as he talks, and stretches his spine and stands on his toes to emphasizes his words. It presses his hair into Shisui’s hand, and Shisui obliging continues to ruffle Kiba’s hair. “The whole test was just a fake to see who was a book-ninja, and who had actual, real-life ninja skills,” Kiba continues to say. Akamaru punctuates Kiba’s words with his own yips and growls. 

Hinata and Kiba finish informally debriefing but don’t move out of Shisui’s space. Shisui doesn’t try to move them either. Shino stands close by with his focus on Shisui’s expression as Shisui listens to Hinata and Kiba. Shisui doesn’t try to force Shino into physical contact, and eventually Shino sidles into range for Kiba’s expressive body language to casually start brushing through Shino’s personal space. 

“What did you think of Ibiki’s test, Shino,” Shisui asks. Hinata shyly unwraps from Shisui, but as she steps backwards it only wedges her physically against Shino and Kiba. Kiba leans his weight against Hinata’s shoulder until she is braced against Shino to stay standing and Kiba’s hand can reach to brush against Shino’s jacket. 

Shino gathers his words before answering. “It was satisfactory,” Shino says, “Why? Because it tested a variety of ninja skills and mentalities that we could not learn from the Academy but have learned from you, Sensei.” Shisui presses both hands against his heart and dramatically chokes back tears. 

“My little genin,” Shisui wails, “You’ve done your sensei so proud!” He falls forward with arms spread to wrap around the three. Kiba, Akamaru, and Hinata yelp at the added weight as Shino grunts. Shino is still too small to support two other genin-sized bodies and a full grown ninja. They collapse into a laughing pile on the dirt in front of the administration building where the first part of the Chunin Exam took place. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hee hee! The Shisui Sensei Series is my most light-hearted work so far, and I am probably going to maintain that. Also Canon? I don't know her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Sorry for the long wait!)

“They’re going to  _ die _ ! It’s literally the Forest  _ of Death _ !”

* * *

 

Hinata gets the scroll for their team. She shyly waits at the back of the line as the add jounin terrorizes the other team representatives collecting scrolls and counts the number of both Heaven and Earth scrolls that are remaining in the pile. It’s complicated to use the Byakugan to read the writing on the inside of the rolled paper, but not impossible. No one expects Hinata to look up from the ground while she fiddles with her fingers either. When Hinata is sure that both Naruto’s team and Team 10 have been given Earth scrolls, Hinata counts the number of people left in line. Based on the jounin’s incredibly obvious pattern while handing out scrolls, Hinata should get an Earth Scroll for Team 8, as well. Hinata told Kiba and Shino that she didn’t want to fight Konoha ninja in the forest if possible. Shino made the plan for Hinata, and Kiba warned her that they may have to fight one of the other Konoha genin anyway. 

It’s going to be difficult enough to survive in the forest and steal a Heaven Scroll from one of the other teams. Shino and Kiba are quickly distracted arguing about whether they should travel through the forest in an inward spiral or move directly to the destination tower. Hinata doesn’t mind being tasked with actually getting their scroll. Both Shino’s bugs and Akamaru refuse to get close to the jounin overseeing this portion of the chunin exam. When Hinata asked, Shino mumbled about poison and Kiba growled about the smell of snakes. 

The jounin sits on top of a folding table with crossed legs. It makes her short skirt and fishnets more obvious, and Hinata thinks the burn she feels looking at the jounin’s long pale legs must be jealousy. “Uh,” Hinata mumbles, “O-one scroll, please, for Konoha Team 8.” 

The older woman leans forward with a sway of purple hair, the smell of lavender, and the obscene plump of her large breasts. “Ooh,” she purrs, “well do Konoha proud and try not to die, sweetheart.” Then the older ninja laughs and leans backwards. Hinata takes the offered scroll instead of watching her bared stomach or stressing that a jounin might lose their balance and fall.

Then, Hinata scurries to Shino and Kiba. Kiba is petting Akamaru and crouched at Shino’s feet with a pout. Hinata assumes that the plan is to move directly to the tower like Shino wanted, and then take a Heaven Scroll from anyone close by that they can find or whoever else makes it to the tower. It will still take at least a day of travel to move through dangerous terrain, and Hinata doesn’t have the stamina to maintain the Byakugan that entire time. 

Hinata crouches next to Kiba to join him in petting Akamaru. It doesn’t last long before the different teams are shuffled to wait at a different opening for each of them. Hinata uses the chaos of moving bodies to slip the scroll to Shino, who is their only long-distance fighter. Also, people generally don’t want to search the body of a bug user. Kiba has already gotten over losing his argument with Shino, and is bounding around trying to smell different clues about the forest behind the fence. Hinata obligingly carries Akamaru until Kiba gets close enough for the puppy to leap onto his head. 

The doors open with a clang, and without announcement. Hinata checks the position of the sun. Everything is happening at exactly the times they were told that it would. Kiba springs forward to gain some height before he leads their formation as they leap through the trees. Hinata stays next to Shino, and they follow behind exactly two trees-length.

Occasionally, Shino signals to Hinata and she activates the Byakugan for a brief moment. Its dizzyingly to switch her view from what is just in front of her to everything within half of a kilometer, but they need to stay moving and Hinata needs to preserve her chakra. 

The fifth time Hinata activates her Byakugan, she quickly calls, “Stop.” Then she blushes and hides her face with a half bow. Kiba retraces his steps to join Shino and Hinata, and Shino stands quietly until Hinata is sure her face isn’t bright red anymore. She can see Kiba and Shino waiting for Hinata to give them information or instructions, but neither looks angry or impatient. “At, at the edge of my range to the north-east,” Hinata says quietly, “is a squad of Rain ninja.” Hinata can only see the edges of their chakra flowing through their bodies, and none of them look particularly notable. Hinata remembers that there were two squads of Rain ninja, and each squad got a different scroll. 

“Do they have a Heaven Scroll?” Kiba asks. He is crouching on the closest tree branch that isn’t the one Shino and Hinata are actually on. His weight is prepped on his heels to move in that unique Inuzuka lope, and his spine is curved protectively around Akamaru. 

“Fi,” Hinata says, “Fifty-fifty chance.” She doesn’t fiddle with her hand or pull at the ends of her sweatshirt. A beetle crawls down Shino’s hand and back up his palm to hide in Shino’s large jacket. Shino’s hive always gets anxious whenever Shino feels active. She doesn’t say they shouldn’t chance it. The entire chunin exam is high-risk, and Hinata wouldn’t have bothered to stop them if she didn’t think it might be worth it to act on what she saw. 

“I say,” Kiba says, “let’s do it.” His voice dips into a growl before battles, and Kiba braces a palm against the bark of the tree branch underneath him. Akamaru watches Shino with dark puppy eyes while Kiba opens his mouth to try and catch a hint of scent from where Hinata can see their target. 

“Okay,” Shino agrees. The buzz of his beetles underlines his words before silencing. Hinata’s byakugan can make out the line of small bugs that drips to the forest floor in preparation. Hinata takes a breath and narrows her focus on the trees in front of here and where she can see the group of three enemy combatants. She takes point and lets Kiba stick with Shino defensively. 

Their formation before attack is closer, and Kiba frequently lands where Hinata just jumped from in time for the edges of their clothes to brush together. Shino likes his space, especially when his hive is preparing for active battle. Hinata takes the short time it takes them to move to describe their target. 

“Three young genin,” she says, “all water-natured.” Their chakra pathways are still highly focused towards the inside of the body instead of flowing towards every chakra point. The flow is also the organic pulse of young ninja instead of the dead silent slide of an older shinobi’s weaponized chakra. “At least one uses aerosol poisons,” Hinata says. She can just barely make out the shape of a gas mask on each one of them, and when Hinata takes a second to refocus her eyes and breathe she can pick up the small stains of past poison damage on two of the gas masks. “Two have umbrellas,” Hinata says, “weaponized?” Debriefing calms Hinata down, because the Byakugan cannot lie to its user even if she wanted. Hinata never has to worry that what she is seeing is wrong. It’s the truth, and it's not a feeling. Hinata can’t bother someone by saying what can be seen. “I can count at least one set of standard weapons on each shinobi,” Hinata says. The more she says, the more Hinata feels like it's just a training exercise. She knows what the right answer is. The last two months, Shisui-Sensei has approved of Hinata’s perception with the Byakugan in training every time they run combat scenarios. “One minute,” Hinata warns, “Strike formation?” 

Akamaru yips quietly to indicate that he and Kiba have caught the scent. Shino drops back compliantly, and Kiba leaps to join Hinata at the front. “Hell yeah,” Kiba says with a quiet grin. Hinata doesn't bother changing her pace. She takes a deep breathe and narrows her focus. She can see everything stretching out from around her position. She can see every branch between her and the three targets. She can see rapid shift of chakra as the shinobi in the middle reacts to Team 8 dropping out of the branches. 

The enemy feints with their right hand and tries to grab a smoke bomb with their left hand. Hinata pivots as she lands to dodge the feint, and her hand strikes out to gently tap the opponent's shoulder in a quick sequence. Their hand brushes against the gas bomb and limply refuses to grasp it. Hinata breathes past the hyperfocus of combat. She can see Kiba and Akamaru covering her back. She can see the stitching on the clothes of the opponent she is engaged with. 

They are clever. They abandon the smoke bomb and immediately try to leap back against a large tree root for cover. Hinata presses the advantage and follows them; she blocks the retaliatory kick with her own leg. She can see her opponent's utility belt, and the exact amount of wear and polish on each of their weapons. Hinata crouches down to dodge an improvised swing of her opponent's useless left arm. She slides her foot forward and shifts her weight. Hinata straightens leaning forward in her opponent’s space; Hinata's breathe fogs against the gas mask they wear. She throws a punch into their gut and relishes in the watches her opponent's back crash against the green wood of the tree root. The Byakugan can see their chakra stutter as bruises form from direct contact. Hinata can't find a scroll anywhere on her opponent. 

“Switch,” she calls breathlessly! A swarm of beetles crash over the tree branch and attach to arms and legs as Hinata leaps in the direction of Akamaru's young and wild chakra. Akamaru abandons his attempt to hamstring his opponent and dodges a frustrated kick by running under Hinata's feet. Hinata jumps and brings down a fist aimed at her new opponent's shoulder blade. They dodge and knock Hinata's extended arm down to open her guard; then they strike forward with the point of their umbrella. Hinata sees the reflection of a naked blade as she bends backwards to avoid the jab. Her eyes follow the umbrella to see standard, functional umbrella mechanisms and the handle of a short sword. Her opponent is wearing a nice kimono with hand stitching, and their obi contains multiple hidden pockets. Hinata straightens and grabs the shaft of the umbrella. With the other hand she strikes three times. Hinata successfully hits the shoulder and renders her opponent's left arm useless. She misses the chakra point on the chest, and Hinata can visibly see that her strike doesn't even bruise. Her last strike hits the internal organs for painful but non-debilitating damage; more importantly Hinata is able to slip her hand into the folds of the Obi and slide out the opposing Team's scroll. 

“Success,” Hinata says quietly for Akamaru's ears as she attempts to disengage. Akamaru barks in a careful pattern, and Shino's bugs immediately began flying and buzzing in response. Hinata's eyes fuzz as her vision suddenly fills with sparse, fast moving dots of chakra. She leaps into the trees where Shino's chakra is concentrated, and tracks as Kiba and Akamaru's chakra joins them a second later. Shino's swarm splits in half, and then splits in half again. 

The begin sprinting away, as a small portion of Shino's beetles scatter noisily to help cover their tracks. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still trying to decide; would yall rather the chunin arc end canon compliant or divergent?


	4. Chapter 4

Shino observes the dimensions of the stadium. It is a small and dusty practice arena in the basement of the Forest of Death’s central tower. There are no windows, and the lighting is from bright, artificial fluorescents. Shino releases the necessary chakra pattern to alert the hive of an upcoming battle during false-day conditions. The hive’s reassuring buzz gains the deeper edge that signifies the soldier beetles are waking up in response. Shino is glad that his hive is responding so quickly; he needs their help to complete the second stage. Kiba is enthusiastically greeting the other Konoha teams loitering along the upper walkways, but Shino stays standing next to Hinata and Shisui-sensei. Shisui-sensei’s hovering presence feels a curious mix of fretful and proud. Shino wants to stay next to his sensei, because he is happy to have made his sensei proud. The ground is one story below, and the referee is deciding on the preliminary match-ups. Shino will win his match, because Shino is determined to continue to make Shisui-sensei proud. 

His opponent is announced. Shino focuses on his opponent, an unknown Sound Ninja, and trusts his glasses to obscure his gaze. Shino won’t waste resources sending any beetles across an active battlefield while other competitors might be using unknown techniques. Instead, he tries to make a strategy while he can think. He is going before both Kiba and Hinata; he needs to set the momentum. 

The Sound Village is small and young; their ninja have few specialized or secret techniques. His opponent is holding both his arms in slings, but Shino knows that he battled Konoha’s Team Seven using his arms. When Team Seven battled the Sound Ninja, he used concussive blasts of air. Shino will prevent him from using his arms, then. 

“Next, Shino versus Zaku,” calls the referee. Shisui-sensei seems to trust the referee as a fellow Konoha Shinobi, though he does not bother introducing the referee to Shino. Shino assumes the referee will be neither a help nor a hinder. 

Shino walks briskly to the stairs and climbs down into the arena. It feels smaller than it looks from above, but Shino knows the approximate size. The arena is a dirt rectangle a little larger than ten meters. When he is standing an equal distance from the referee and across from his opponent, Shino speaks, “If you do not forfeit, you will never battle again.”

Shisui keeps warning Shino that he shouldn’t play with his food or his targets. Shino thinks it is important to explain things, because that lets people make informed decisions. Besides, Shino justifies, this is an examination match and not the field. Intimidation is a possible path to victory in this situation. 

His opponent, Zaku, visibly grinds his teeth. Zaku’s nostrils flare with an angry breath, and the muscles of each shoulder and bicep flex and release. Shino keeps his quick glances hidden behind his glasses. 

“Would you look at that,” Zaku says, “it looks like I can use my right arm.” Zaku pulls the arm out of his double sling configuration and carefully stretches it. Shino watches Zaku’s weight shift from his balanced standing position. Zaku seems to be a dramatic fighter, because Shino watches him charge forward yelling, “I only need one arm to beat you!” 

Shino blocks the blatantly telegraphed attack with one arm. He doesn’t bother changing his expression. Shino is sure his plan will work, and it's simple enough to start commanding his beetles when they’re already awake. 

“This is your last chance,” Shino warns, “before you’ll never be able to fight again.” Zaku’s shoulders reflexively hike higher with anger again at Shino’s words, because Shino has been told warnings sound arrogant. Then, Zaku opens his palm and the relaxing buzz of his beetles is replaced by a high-pitched whistle of air. Shino quickly glances to the side, because he needs to visually confirm what mechanism Zaku is using. Older drones instinctually rush towards the sound of the threat under Shino’s coat, because they can absorb a portion of the blow with their bodies before they die. Shino is somewhat surprised by the force of the blast released from Zaku’s attack. Shino drops and rolls when he hits the ground to redirect his own momentum. 

Shino takes one breath to check his injuries, but he is only bruised. The queen is safe, and she can independently determine the state of the hive for now. Shino stands up and brushes the dirt off his coat. Then, he looks directly and obviously at Zaku. Zaku is finally starting to be intimidated. It doesn’t matter, Shino has already commanded the hive. The queen sends a handful of drones to check the bruises on Shino’s face. Shino tilts his head, because it makes the  handful of beetles’ slow crawl up his neck and cheek obvious for Zaku. 

Finally, the high-pitched ringing hiss of Zaku’s attack fades from the air and is replaced by the familiar low buzz and chitter of Shino’s hive. Shino keeps his head turned to Zaku, but flicks his gaze behind his glasses down towards the skittering beetles behind Zaku. Zaku uses Shino’s stillness to look around for the source of the sound. Zaku is clearly badly trained, because Shisui-sensei made clear that any distraction can be a potential moment to attack an enemy. Shino doesn’t attack Zaku. Instead, Shino gives Zaku a full second to look around the arena for the source of the chattering sound. Finally, Zaku sees the beetles approaching behind him. 

“You should forfeit,” Shino suggests, “I have you cornered.” Zaku’s shoulders, again, tense up. He denies Shino, and yells some tripe about trump cards. Shino ignores Zaku and listens to the soothing sound of his beetles. By now, they’re everywhere in the arena; inside of Shino, in the upper walkways, on the wall, on the ground, and even inside of Zaku. 

Zaku dramatically pulls his other arm out of his sling. Faking an injury might have been a good strategy to surprise an opponent. Zaku poses with his palms aimed to fire a concussive blast at both Shino and the approaching beetles. Shino doesn’t bother moving, because he already warned Zaku that Shino cornered him. Shino doesn’t even have to hear that annoying high pitched sound again; instead, there is only a wet gurgle underneath a chitinous crunch, and suddenly aerated blood sprays as both of Zaku’s arms explode at the bicep. Shino notes that the location matches the chakra point that Hinata likes to aim for when Shino blocks instead of avoiding her strikes.

* * *

 

Kiba renews the scent markers on Shisui-sensei’s vest with a tight hug, and feels Akamaru spring off his head to lick Shisui-sensei’s face. Shisui-sensei smells relieved and happy and bright, and suddenly Kiba is just excited and energetic. The tiring run through the so-called Forest of Death is practically a distant memory, so Kiba grabs Akamaru with an unintelligible shout to his team and bounces off to see the other Konoha Rookies. He avoids Hinata’s cousin, because it's confusing to smell Hinata and see Neji “Stick-Up-My-Ass” instead, but Team Seven and Team Ten are both clustered around their respective sensei. 

Team Ten’s sensei smells so strongly of smoke it makes both Kiba and Akamaru sneeze to get the smell out of their nose. Choji offers Kiba a barbeque shrimp flavored chip, and the strong spices easily erase any memory of unpleasant smells. Kiba takes the opportunity to trade stories of nasty things his team avoided in the Forest with Choji and Shikamaru. After describing a dead tiger inside of a dead giant slug being slowly eaten by a giant snake, Ino finally breaks. Kiba runs off to avoid her dramatic hits and appreciates the small smirks the boys send him. 

Team Seven really lucked out with their sensei! Kiba sees Kakashi at Hana’s clinic all the time, and anyone that trains nin-dogs and is a jounin must be almost as cool as Shisui-sensei. Kiba tells Naruto as much, because Sasuke doesn’t even respond to Akamaru’s puppy face. Naruto’s and Sakura’s resulting screech compete for volume to accuse Kakashi of hiding things. Akamaru whines, and Kiba listens to his suggestion to run from Kakashi’s sideways glare. Kiba still chuckles as he goes. 

Kiba slings an arm around Hinata’s shoulders and pulls her with him to lean their combined weight against Shisui-sensei. Shisui-sensei grunts dramatically, but doesn’t push them away. Kiba could just barely reach around Shisui-sensei to run his fingers along the sides of Shino’s coat from here, but that always distracts and annoys Shino.

“Kiba,” Hinata says quietly. Her head is pulled against Kiba’s shoulder, and she’s speaking so quietly it carries even less than a whisper would. Kiba gives her a reassuring squeeze to let her know he is listening. “Can I, can I give,” Hinata tries before her voice gives out. Kiba waits. Its a while before he is supposed to battle Naruto, and Kiba frankly doesn’t expect to lose. “Can I give this ointment to N-n-n, well, Naruto,” Hinata asks. 

Kiba keeps his arm around her while he thinks. Akamaru leans down from Kiba’s head to nose reassuringly against Hinata’s hair when her scent sours with disappointment. Kiba just needs time to think. He is sure that Shisui-sensei is listening, too, even though Kiba can’t feel Shisui-sensei’s body language change or smell a change in his scent. It's just Naruto and it's just some homemade ointment, Kiba reasons. 

“Of course!” Kiba shouts. Hinata startles under his arm, and Kiba uses her surprise to forcefully spin her around and push her in Team Seven’s direction. “Thanks for asking,” he says more quietly, as he continues to gently guide Hinata along the straight walkway. Hinata stutters unintelligibly, and her ears burn red as she walks mechanically under Kiba’s direction. Kiba looks backwards to check that Shisui-sensei and Shino will be fine for the moment. Shisui-sensei gives Kiba a big smile and a thumbs up, so Kiba smiles in response and lets Akamaru bark an affirmative in response. 

Naruto is completely oblivious to why Hinata is presenting him with a gift of healing ointment while her face flames red. Kiba tries to stop laughing long enough at Naruto’s absurd questions to help, but instead Sakura smacks Naruto and tells him to just thank Hinata. Kiba thinks Hinata tries to say something in response, but she just sounds and looks like a slow leaking balloon instead. 

Kiba places Akamaru in Hinata’s arms and grabs her firmly by the shoulders again. It's easy enough to mechanically guide Hinata back to Shisui-sensei and squish her in between their bodies so she feels hidden enough to calm down. Watching Shino literally delimb his opponent quickly kills whatever remaining humor Kiba was feeling, and restores Hinata’s complexion to “Hyuuga death-pale”.

Hinata hands Akamaru back to Kiba in preparation for Kiba’s match, and pulls an alcohol wipe from one of her pockets when Shino finally gets back to their group. Hinata wipes a smear of blood off the side of Shino’s face. Shino smiles in thanks with a quick twitch of his lips then focuses seriously on Hinata. 

“Are you ok?” Shino asks. Hinata flushes again, but this time she’s able to quietly stutter Naruto’s name. Usually, Shino can guess the rest or ask Kiba to explain. Instead he slightly raises one hand to interrupt. “I meant, the preliminary matchups show that you’ll be fighting Hyuuga Neji sometime after Kiba fights Naruto.” Hinata freezes for a second and then spins to check the match-ups. Kiba spins with her; he only checked who his own opponent was, because he was so sure that his team would be able to defeat any opponent here. 

Shisui-sensei interrupts them before Hinata or Kiba can start fretting or blustering. “I wouldn’t have entered you in the exams if I didn’t trust each of your abilities. Now focus on observing each match to see what you can learn.” Its a command, and Kiba whines in betrayal at the lack of support from their sensei. Shisui grabs Kiba in a rough hug around the neck and scratches Akamaru behind the ear until they both start naturally relaxing. 

“Trust me,” Shisui-sensei quietly says for just Kiba, “and you’re next anyway.” Kiba quickly looks up. Its true. Already, Sakura, Ino, and Shikamaru are finished with their matches. Akamaru growls to urge Kiba forward, so Kiba rushes into the arena. He’s going to win!

* * *

 

Kiba loses to Naruto. Kiba loses to Naruto because of an accidental fart, which is absurd. Shisui swallows the indignation that rolls in his gut and focuses on the future. He clearly needs to talk to the Inuzuka about ways to desensitize Kiba to smells without ruining Kiba’s actual sensory advantage. For now, Hinata is trembling like a leaf and hyper focused on the upcoming battle between Rock Lee and Gaara no Sabaku. 

Hinata gets lost in her head, and frequently doubts herself. Shisui cannot let her battle a clan member in that state, no matter what the rumours exist about Hyuuga inter-clan politics. 

“I asked for your observations, Hinata,” Shisui says, gently, “not an after-battle report.” He keeps his voice smooth and lilting like he would for casting a genjutsu. Hinata still stiffens with a restrained flinch before shifting her focus to Shisui. She doesn’t activate the Byakugan, though.

“Sorry, sensei,” Hinata murmurs before looking back at the battlefield. Rock Lee is a well-known genin, and it is easy to tell why as he enthusiastically takes position across from his opponent. In contrast, Shisui knows that Gaara no Sabaku is infamous in his own way. 

“Rock Lee is clearly very proficient in standard Konoha taijutsu styles judging by his stance, muscle-mass, and, uh,” Hinata hesitates before continuing her cold and quiet analysis, “well, resemblance to the famous Jounin Might Gai.” She pauses in order to carefully scan Gaara no Sabaku, but doesn’t bother reading either competitor’s lips for Shisui. 

“Some would call me a famous Jounin, too,” Shisui whispers quietly. He waves off Hinata’s curious glance at what he said, and instead appreciates Kiba’s humoured snort. Shino even raises an eyebrow to acknowledge Shisui’s joke. 

“I think, uh,” Hinata quickly says as Rock Lee finishes an introductory speech, “that Gaara will win?” She looks at Shisui for permission to continue. Shisui nods encouragingly, and carefully keeps his expression mild. When Shisui smiles too frequently it can overwhelm Hinata just as easily as criticism. “Well, in the Forest, Gaara displayed an, I don’t know, but, well, an overwhelming chakra signature. Also, going by body language Gaara is prepared to use lethal measures. He, he looks, uh, like he wants to use lethal measures, Hinata explains. 

The fight starts with a punch. Then it gets faster. Shisui has to activate the sharingan to track the movements of both fighters. “I was wrong,” Hinata says. She hasn’t activated the Byakugan, but she seems to be calmly focused on the match in front of them. Shisui is willing to admit that the Hyuuga are better trained in taijutsu than the Uchiha. Her pulse point is finally steady. 

“Wrong about what?” Shisui asks.

“Rock Lee is more than just proficient. He is approaching a complete mastery of Konoha taijutsu, already,” Hinata says, “Also, he isn’t fighting at full power, yet. I don’t know who might win.”

A light sprinkle of sand showers up into the walkway. Shisui shields his eyes with a hand. He hadn’t realized that Guy was training his team to that extent, but Gaara hasn’t attacked and still only looks annoyed. Rock Lee jumps back from a a swell of fast moving sand and pauses to take a carefully controlled breath. Might Guy yells some vague advise, and Shisui takes the chance to carefully consider the older jounin. Might Guy is always gebuine, and its easy to forget that just because Might Guy is genuine doesn’t prevent him from dissemination. The obnoxious styling barely hides the scars and muscles from experience. More importantly, Might Guy looks relaxed as his genin fights a potential jinchurikii using only taijutsu. 

The Sharingan can only see the reality of the world, but its still a shock when Shisui reads the weight listed on the training wraps Rock Lee carefully removes. The resounding clang and puff of disturbed sand is a confirmation of Shisui’s shock. 

Hinata frowns and glances at Gaara instead of trying to follow Rock Lee. Shisui keeps the sharingan trained on the genin and boggles at his sheer speed. The sharingan actually loses sight of Rock Lee a handful of times, despite Shisui’s own speed training. The crack as Rock Lee finally strikes Gaara is different from breaking bone. 

“Thats the first time,” Hinata murmurs quietly, “that Gaara showed a real emotional response.” Shisui carefully prompts Hinata to explain as he tracks Rock Lee’s movements. Shisui should consider speed training with Might Guy’s team. “I mean, uh, Gaara has been kind of, uh, bored or uh, irritated this whole time. M-manic, I guess,” Hinata says. Her eyes can’t keep track of Rock Lee, but she knows better than to use chakra on the Byakugan before her own match. “But this time he responded in reaction to something that actually happened? When Lee hit Gaara, it made him, uh, shocked and then angry,” Hinata says, “but why didn’t Rock Lee use the weights against Gaara?”

Shisui hides a laugh. Its nice to be reassured that he trained his students well.

* * *

 

Rock Lee loses. Hinata takes a deep breath and looks around. Neji’s determined glare feels like a rope sliding around Hinata’s neck. Hinata wonders when the rope will tighten. It doesn’t matter. Hinata is used to breathing past the tightness around her neck, and she knows from the reassuring, soft weight of her jacket that it isn’t real, anyway. 

She climbs down the arena steps to the ground floor. Hinata is sure that Shisui-sensei and her teammates say something encouraging to her. She thinks she gave them some standardized answer in response. 

There isn’t a single grain of sand littered on the ground. Only loose dirt stirred into strange patterns. Hinata tracks the steps of the gentle fist in her mind. She doesn’t want to trip. Finally, Hinata looks up. 

Neji stands across from her. “Forfeit now,” he commands. Its so dissonant from every other time Hinata has stood across from another Hyuuga without the option to forfeit. Her breathe freezes in her lungs; this is real. Everyone is about to see that Hinata is the failure of the Hyuuga Clan. 

Her thoughts and memories swirl through her head as Neji’s and the referee’s words slip past Hinata’s ears. Hinata needs to assume her starting position. She can and has assumed the first position of the Gentle Fist sequence in her sleep. Hinata can’t catch her breath. 

Her team is cheering for her, and Hinata is finally going to fail them. Naruto is also cheerig for her, Hinata realizes. Naruto is the biggest failure Hinata knows, and its never discouraged or frozen him. Instead, Naruto smiles with fire in his eyes and charges forward. Why can’t Hinata do that, too. Hinata can fail like Naruto easily enough. 

Hinata breathes the snowstorm out through her mouth until all that remains are the shards of ice stuck in her gut. She stares across at Neji’s eyes and imagines herself frozen. Then Hinata moves. Her eyes are chips of ice, and she assumes first position. Hinata will show Neji that she is not ready to give up. 

The referee must say go, because Hinata’s Byakugan sees them move away, sees Neji notice the referee’s movement, and see’s the tensing of Neji’s first strike. Hinata strikes first instead. She can’t allow Neji to maintain his greater reach, and she is confident that she knows Neji’s typical defensive pattern. 

They trade blows with smacks of air and pinpoint bursts of chakra. The air between Hinata and Neji is a multilayered firework show. The audience watch with silent gasps. Hinata ignores the emotions her team betray behind stoic faces through tensed body language. Her Byakugan can see it, but Hinata stays focused on Neji’s quick and subtle attacks.

Hinata gasps. Neji is a step ahead of her, and has been playing this whole time. Her body jabs forward towards the opening Neji has provided and Hinata’s Byakugan watches as Neji bluntly jabs his fingers into her arm. It swings limp beside her. 

Hinata leaps backwards. In a traditional spar the match might be called now. Hinata ignores Neji’s kind urgings to give up. She has to show him that not giving up is the only thing she doesn’t fail at. Hinata plans her next sequence. The Gentle Fist isn’t traditional accomodated for use without every limb.

Neji is impatient. He strikes before Hinata finishes predicting her own strikes. Still, she follows the guard sequence of steps and is only a portion of a second slower for adjusting to the limp weight of her useless arm. Hinata won’t disrespect her cousin by forsaking the Gentle Fist style in their spar. 

She almost lands a strike, and Hinata watches as a single bead of sweat begins to build on Neji’s forehead from the exertion. She pushes her advantage before doubt can oversweep her once more. 

Shisui Sensei is watching her with the sharingan activated. Hinata won’t have her sensei memorize her failing. Hinata will not give up. Hinata watches Neji lose his patience and tense unexpexted for the standard set of blows they have been exchanging. He pushes forward and Hinata rolls backwards from the force of Neji’s strike. Her other arm is now limp as well. Hinata coughs into the dry dirt. It gets watered with a trickle of blood, but her heart unfreezes and Hinata feels the air re-enter her lungs. 

She rushes forward. There is no proper gentle fist strike thar Hinata can accurately attempt with both of her arms unusable, but she will not give up. Neji shifta his feet from their sparring position and strikes towars the center position. 

Hinata feels the blood rushing desperately past her ears and the air freez in her chest. The rope around her neck has changed into sharpened icicles and pulled tight. Hinata watches as her heart stops and her chakra convulses in shock with her Byakugan. Hinata drops to the ground. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end!!! :D
> 
> You can decide how close to canon things follow or not. For now, I am done with this story, and you won't see any more Shisui Sensei unless you write it or I decide to add to the series. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!


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